hardness of the peopl's hearts In so corrupt an age we may not stand upon our Lords In the beginning it was not so but yield to his Suffer it to be so now I therefor urge no more but this That it is the duty of every Minister to labor with his people to com constantly and to offer the Holy Communion as often as he can prevail with them to receve it Against this so complaisant Assertion bicause St. Augustin's out-running followers have not only opposed his Let every one do what he thinks best but preferred the Centurions aw before Zacheus's reception therefor must this doubl Error be encounter'd with a doubl Question 1. Whether our Lords Do this take not away our liberty to forbear it 2. Supposing we had liberty to do what we believe best whether it were not better to do it frequently than seldom 1. Our first Question must be Whether our Lords Do this leave us any liberty to forbear when we think it better In this Enquiry we must distinguish between Laws Moral and Positive II MOral Laws ar written in the fleshly tables of the heart whose yielding nature may take impression from the various occurrences of life Those Laws as they ar Dictated by Reason so must they be Interpreted by it and bend to the several requires of the subject matter For the Philosopher cannot so fix the bounds of Vertu but that in many cases the Determination of a Prudent man is necessaty to distinguish it from Vice But God wrote his Positive Laws in Tables of Stone whose rigor was uncapabl of yielding Of such Laws the Will of the Law-giver was the Only Reason and must be the Only Mesure We must do Just so no less nor no more nor no otherwise Reason hath here nothing to do but to deny it self to have the least power to Dispens or Derogate or Commute or any way Decline from the express voice of the Law Uzzah could not then plead the appearance of necessity or the evidence of his good meaning when the danger of the Law was greater one way than that of the Ark was the other way To this surpose ler us reflect upon what we have already observed that our Apostl vouched our Lord's authority that so he might assert both the Truth and Importance of what he delivered For we cannot now deny the Truth without affronting the Apostl's veracity nor the Importance without disparaging our Lord's wisdom for the One must be said to take great care for a subject of no valu or the Other report a falshood We have seen som danger that our Lord's mind might be mistaken as if he either intended to consecrate none but the Paschal Supper or valued the whole office at no higher rate than he used to do outward performances We need no other evidence that the Corinthians might probably believ This than the commonness of This belief now notwithstanding the Apostl's indeavor to confute it in both its members by This declaration which plainly discovereth how much our Lord valued this office how often we must perform it and how litl power we have to abate any thing of it For these reasons he doth not plead here as before in another case of outward decency Doth not appeal to Their Judgments nor offer his Own saith not as cap. 10. I speak as to wise men judge you what I say nor as chap. 7. I give my judgment This say I not the Lord but quite contrary This say not I but the Lord and the consequence is Neither I nor an Angel from heaven must be believed against the Revelation Neither I nor an Angel from heaven much less a mans own humor can any way relax the Obligation Grant therefore now that the Observation be as Tru as the Subject is Unhappy suppose Frequence bring danger of Cheapness must we therefor presume to make it Scarce No doubtless If we will needs hear Reason it will tell us that our Lord knew this as well as We It was so Before and In and Ever Since His days as it is in Ours How then dare any one judge That a sufficient reason to hinder him from Doing this which our Lord judged not so to hinder him from Commanding it Doth not such an one declare himself both Superior and Wiser If thou judg the Law saith S. James thou art not a Doer of the law but a Judge I may add Thou art not only a Judge but an Unjust one if thy sentence rob the law of it's due so much more so by how much greater care our Lord took to have it duly paid III. HE therefor that breaketh This which is not the Least of our Lords Commandments and teacheth men so must be weighed in others scales than those of St. Augustine Not compared with the modest Centurion or forward Zacheus but with the most Disobedient Rebel and the most Unworthy Communicant and even so will be found more inexcusable than the worst For he that Doth This however unworthily payeth Somthing of obedience owneth our Lords Authority is easily Convinced of his Crime But he that saith he needs not do it doth not only deny the Law to have power over himself but assumeth to himself power over the Law and renounceth all Need and therefor all Benefit of Repentance He that Disobeyeth the Kings Law may be a Felon but he that setteth up an Opposit Authority is a Rebel and declaring himself as all Rebels do a most Faithful Subject is thereby the more Unpardonabl He that doth this unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of the Lord he dishonoreth his Person and that in his Humanity but he that Renounceth any Obligation to do it is guilty of his Crown and Dignity Deposeth him from his Throne and affronteth the Majesty of his Divinity and his pretence of Reason for disobedience whether it be Reverence or his Teachers Authority or what ever els it be it is a Rival to obedience and it 's plausibl Pretences make it so much the more properly Rebellious This perhaps may seem too Severe I grant it nor do I believ our Lord judgeth according to such Rigid mesures but Rigid as they ar they ar Just and may be urged against the Doctrines thogh not against the Persons For if the Preformance be bound upon us by a Positive Law of Christ and Forbearance only by my Own or my Teachers Reason If I prefer This abve That and Justifie my doing so what is this but to say I will not have That but This to reign over me We may not therefor without manifest Deposing our Lord pretend any thing Equal to his Authority but if we will decline our obedience to This Command we must fetch our Warrant from That alone as dispensing with us in such cases as we oppose to our obligation IV. AND this Warrant must be as Express as his Command and it must be either a Countermand or a Dispensation 1. A Countermand may be either Express or Implicit If
Cup and gave thanks saith St. Luke But of This Cup because it concerned not the Lords Supper St. Paul taketh no notice When they have done eating he distributeth a little of the wine saith the Rabbi Our Lord took the Cup when he had supped saith St. Paul After supper saith St. Luke saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THIS signal cup THIS closing cup c. Could we have Expected yea could we have Desired greater resemblance Are not the Mater the Actions the Seasons All circumstances the same And do not All these agree as exactly with the Apostl's Argument and All its Clauses as with our Lords Institution The very first sight discovereth such Resemblance as manifestly declareth Relation and rhe more exactly we vieu the more shall we discover nor would we doubt the One were the proper issue of the Other did not the Parentage appear too Mean and too long Concealed V. WHAT must the adorable Sacrament of the Altar which hath so long exercised the highest devotions of devoutest Souls must this inestimable Sacrament fall to so low a meanness as to own a poor ordinary Feasting-cup for its Original And must all the Admirable Mysteries which contemplative Souls have so Long and so Much venerated must they All dwindle into a mere Representative of That death which the Evangelists have as plainly set forth by Words as This can do by Figures And shall we believe that so many good and learned Men who have so carefully studied it should be so much deceived and the Christian world at last after almost 1700 years be obliged to we know not whom for information To such erronios purpose may Those declame who use to judge of the truth of the Sun-dial by their Watches and I shall answer them by a story Codrus or some such brave Prince the night before he sacrificed his life for his people delivered into the hands of his chief Officers a Cabinet telling them he therein bequeathed them his very heart and requiring them publicly to produce it in every Assembly as a lasting Monument of his death It contained his directions for its use legible enough throgh its Christal covering but much more if opened with its annexed key They receved it with all due reverence and while the memory of their so deserving King was yet fresh they constantly obeyed his command But after some ages as their love cooled toward his Person so did their regard to his Legacy Which the Officers lamenting and endeavoring not only to restore it to its due reverence but to advance it higher told the people That however incredible it might seem they must believe what their dying Lord told them viz. That in this Cabinet he left them his very heart which therefore they must adore as his Royal Person And lest by opening it any one might therein find the Kings plain directions they laid aside the key and then omitted the use of the Cabinet it self except only upon extraordinary seasons pretending that too frequent use sullied it When many considering and considerable Persons complained that they were brought the back way to the same contemt as former ages were condemned for a certain Officer of a midle rank knowing the Kings directions could not otherwise be legible sought about till he had found the forgotten key and upon tryal finding it exactly to answer every ward brought it into public vieu pleading that such a concurs of lock and key in so many wards could not be fortuit and seeing Some key must necessarily be had they who refused This must be obliged to produce a Better And because the metal was objected against as base brass or iron no way suitable to the richness of the Cabinet and the Jewels therein contained he fell to scouring it from that rust wherewith Time and Neglect if not Design 〈◊〉 covered it and finding it pure Gold turned that Objection Against its worthiness into an Evidence For is And thinking that All cavils must be abundantly answered by a duble ocular Demonstration he turned it round in the lock shewing that all its parts were as well suited to all the wards thereof as its matter was to the worth of the Cabinet it self What success this had with the people my Author doth not inform me but this proceeding seemeth so genuine that I shall follow it First I shall shew that the Jewish Tradition was fit for the honor of a Sacrament Secondly That it exactly answereth our Lords Institution And thirdly That it serveth every syllable of the Apostl's Dissertation CHAP. IV. I. No more dishonor to This than to the other Sacrament to be derived from a Jewish Tradition This Tradition more worthy than That II. In what sens our Lords Table is an Altar Were our behavior at Table more pious the Sacrament need not be ashamed of such a relation III. Our Lords form of consecration derived from the Jewish Forms both Festival and Sacrificial THAT it is a dishonor to This Sacrament to ow its original to a Jewish Tradition can ill be objected by those who make no such scruple against Baptism which yet deriveth its Institution from the same Author and its Extraction from the same Family That had lost its Key almost as long as This for an Age hath not past over us since it was found among the same Jewish rubbidge yet are we not ashamed to expound those Evangelical allegories Regeneration New birth New creature Old man and New man c. by the Jewish Rituals which speak them more than Allegorical effects of Baptism upon Proselytes NOR is This Sacrament barely Equal but much Superior to That both by Natural and Positive Law For the Jewish Baptism was a mere naked Ceremony Significant indeed of the purity required in the person which received it but neither Derived from it nor Effective of it But This Festival solennity did not only Represent but really Exercise and Improve and 't was its self the issue of true Piety Their affectation of Ceremonies might for ought appeareth in Scripture be all the reason which moved Them to Baptise their Proselytes but to bless God for his Benefits is a worship acceptable to God above all burnt-offerings and sacrifice though instituted by himself as appeareth in the 50th Psalm where he rejecteth Those and approveth This saying He that offereth me praise he honoreth me And if even under the Law much more under the Gospel must such a Service be acceptable which carrieth in its countenance such fair Characters of the Divine Nature And as it hath more of Gods Image so hath it of his Superscription more Authority from Positive as well as more Dignity from Natural Law That Gods people should Baptise their Proselytes the Law of Moses took no care but that they should acknowledge his Bounty in feeding them it made special provision For Lev. 17.3 we find it thus written What man soever there be of the house of Israel that killeth an ox or lamb or goat in the camp or that
a Christian upon several accounts 1. The Law giver 2. The Rites VI. 3. The Obligation CHAP. II. This is Appropriate to our Lords Person and recommended by signal marks of his favor Pag. 196. I. This Command appropriat to our Lords Person and Humanity And thereby 1. Endeareth all other Laws by new obligations proper to the Nature of a Man II. 2. Is it self a New Law upon a New account III. It is not only a Monument proper to our Lords memory but a Statu lively representing him IV. Our Lord expressed his esteem by his care in recommending it in the most advantagees circumstances 1. It was the Last night in his Life 2. The night in which he was and knew he should be betrayed V. The perverse returns many make to this care 1. The Profane make it their Last act as if it wer to shew forth their own death 2. Som make it their Last care by preferring every other before it Business unpreparedness uncharitableness VI. The Scrupulos refusing to receve bicause hindered by impossibl conditions blemish our Lords wisdom and goodness CHAP. III. Serviceable to our own interests Pag. 213. I. The kindness of the Command as it regards our Interest 1. In point of Ease It is a sacrificial Fest not a Sacrifice Suffering an expression of Love exercised by many but not requited in this duty II. 2. In point of pleasantness 1. Spiritual pleasures greater than Sensual thogh the Atheist cannot relish them We must believe the experienced not the ignorant III. 2. Pleasures of the Christian greater than of any other Religion IV. 3. Pleasures of this greater than of any other Office of Christian worship 1. It hath proper sweetness of its own V. 2. It improveth all other Offices 1. Preaching 2. Swearing 3. Prayer This proved by the practice of those who in danger desire the Sacrament VI. 4. Thankfulness VII Other Advantages intimated but not insisted on bicause set forth by many other Writers A brief Recapitulation of what hath be'n here said with a Transition to what remains PART V. Answers to the Vulgar opinion CHAP. I. Deference paid to the Former age and to the Sacrament Pag. 235. I. Former ages excused for advancing Reverence when there was no other danger but of Irreverence and stating preparation in such manner as might best serv Piety Reason to believ that were they now living they would press the Performance as earnestly as they have do'n Preparation II. A Second Protest against robbing the Sacrament III. The Adversaries opinion set forth in his own words whereby almost all the World must be prohibited IV. A Warrant demanded A confession that a good Consequence is Warrant sufficient CHAP. II. Concerning Unworthiness Pag. 247. I. What Unworthy importeth 1. In its singl signification 1. In Grammar it is an Adverb 2. In Logik a Relative II. The degree of the Crime not expressed why We need not be so fearful as the Papists We deny not the Real Presence III. 2. The Aspect of the word upon the Apostls design 1. Personal worthiness dishonorable to our Lord. 2. Different from the Apostls mesure IV. The Apostl oght to have warned the Corinthians of it 1. For the Lord's Table sake 2. For his own arguments sake V. 3. For the Corinthians sakes who were such as oght to have be'n forbidden CHAP. III. Of Self Examination pag. 260. I. How Self-examination is usually pressed II. The question is not indifinite but confined to the Present occasion and the answer is dubl 1. Negative III. 2. Positive IV. The true question concerning which we must examin our selvs CHAP. IV. Answereth Reason Objecting Allegories pag. 268. I. A Transition from Scripture to Reason and by the way notice taken of Allegories of a midl Nature between both II. The Allegory of Covenant and Seal answered and retorted III. The Allegory of Member likewise answered IV. The Allogory of Sons and Enemies V. A General answer to all objections of this kind CHAP. V. Reason as the case now standeth forbids to hazard the very being of the Sacrament for advancement of Reverence pag. 275. I. A Descent from Scripture to Reason The case now different from what it was formerly II. 1. Bicause the very Being of the Sacrament is hazarded III. Every step from Constancy an approche to That danger At first the Prohibition lay onely against singl persons not qualities and against Persons by sentence of the Bishop IV. From sins grosly scandalos a pass made to All sins The moderation of the Church of England V. Motives to bring tepid persons to the Sacrament not potent VI. A comparison of such Doctrines as endanger the Being with such practices as profane the Sacrament 1. Somthing is better than Nothing More hope of reformation A Protest against encorageing irreverence Three good ends laid down which the Sacrament is fit to promote but disabled by disuse CHAP. VI. The Sacrament made useless toward Conversion pag. 287 I. That it is made unserviceabl toward conversion of a sinner Three propositions 1. To deny it a converting vertu is dishonorable to the Sacrament and more so to our Lord. II. No danger to the Worthy but the whole question is about the Unworthy and concerning them there is more hope than fear five reasons why the hope should be embraced III. 2. The Sacrament hath a converting vertu Proved 1. by the joint authority of the Apostls and by consideration of this Apostl's argument St. Augustin used the same argument with the same unhappiness IV. No fear that such stating the Argument should drive men as far from the Church as the Altar V. 2. By Reason 1. The Death of Christ serviceabl to convert That he suffered more for This end than any other proved by Scripture and Reason VI. 2. This Sacrament setteth forth Christ's death more powerfully than Preaching We may not imagin that he will deny it his blessing VII 3. The converting power promoted by frequent repetitions A supposition that One solemn address may be worth Twenty examined An hypotyposis of such a performance 1. Frequent offers his one time or other 2. Repetition addeth new force to the former decaying act 3. Teacheth to act better So it will help not prejudice the performance in respect of the manner CHAP. VII Wors than Useless toward comforting the Godly pag. 309. I. The second end Comfort of the Godly This Sacrament founded upon Festing the tessera of Love II. The conscientious griped between a fear of Unworthiness on the one side and of Disobedience on the other III. Hopes mingled with Fears a snare to the Godly which the Vngodly escape IV. The Lords table more dishonored by such preparation than by None CHAP. VIII Pernicios to Charity pag. 318. I. Fasting a bond of kindness among guests Salt an embleme of Love II. This a Fest of Charity seasoned with a kiss of Charity The highest Communion Drinking and Pledging Drinking healths The Bride-cake The Apostl's way of Arguing our Union from this Communion III. The
Endeareth all other Lawes by new obligations proper to the Nature of a Man II. 2. Is it self a New Law upon a New account III. It is not only a Monument proper to our Lords memory but a Statu lively representing him IV. Our Lord expressed his esteem by his care in recommending it in the most advantageos circumstances 1. It was the Last night in his Life 2. The night in which he was and knew he should be bebetrayed V. The pervers returns many make to This care 1. The Profane make it their Last act as if it wer to shew forth their own death 2. Som make it their Last care by preferring every other before it Business unpreparednes uncharitablenes VI. The Scrupulos refuseing to receve bicause hindered by impossibl conditions blemish our Lords wisdom and goodness THIS and This Only is Appropriate to our Lords Person and Humane Nature and hath thereby a dubl singularity of power 1. It addeth a New inforcement to former Laws upon their Old account 2. It is it self a New Law upon a New account I. IT endeareth all Former Laws upon their Common account which well cast up amounteth to this End Total They promote Our happiness and that in all Kinds and Capacities Private and Publick Inward and Outward Temporal and Eternal They exalt us above the Troubles by putting us above the Cares and Pollutions of this world make us both Useful and Amiable in our generations Spiritual in our affections Godlike in our conversation Perfect as our heavenly father is perfect as much in Happiness as Goodness they promote not any other interest of God but his delight in our felicity And This is a great argument to invite our obedience twisted of Interest and Gratitude And the bonds of Gratitude which oblige us to obey God for Kindness of his Commands ar dubled by That of his Promises He imputeth it as a Service and promiseth Rewards infinitely greater than the best Service could pretend to if we will accept of the happiness he offereth us And what can Love do more Yes our Lord hath do'n yet More Infinitely More for us He hath not only taken Care but Paid for our happiness and the Price was great as the Love that paid it and the Obligation thence derived greater than Both the Other For his Laws and Promises shewed the Love indeed but mingled with the Authority of a Father His Power was thereby Governed but not Weakned they provide for Our happiness without robbing Him of any part of his own What the Psalmist says of his Works we may apply to his Laws and Promises He spake and it was do'n he commanded and they were created But rhe work our Redemtion cost him not onely a word speaking but strong cries and tears whereby he purchased to himself Another Right so much more Obliging to Us by how much more Costly to Himself than that of a Creator That our great Lawgiver should take upon himself the form of a servant and become Obedient yea that of a Malefactor and becom obedient unto Death even the death of the Cross That he should with his Own bloud purchase us a Pardon for breaking his Own so gracios Laws and Himself a peculiar peopl zelos of good works and thereby capabl of his so Promised Rewards leaving us an exampl that we should follow his steps which it is no less Shameful to Desert than Impossibl to Ourgo either in Active or Passive obedience This is indeed a most Admirabl and no less Powerful charm to constrain us to follow such a Captain These Things for their admirable Loveliness the Angels desire to look into and by such cords of Love Humanity must needs be Attracted No voice therefor of this Captain of our Salvation caled more loud upon Us to Follow Him than That whereby he caled upon God as forsaking him Never more a King than when Crowned with thorns Anointed with sweat and bloud and Enthroned on his Cross There There was he exalted on the throne of Love There did he stretch out his inviting Arms There did he open not his Arms only but his Heart who 's wide door let out his Bloud to make room for Us. This doth himself cal his Exaltation I when I am exalted will draw All men unto me All Men of All Humours and Complexions All Nations and Ages The stubbornest metal that will not be Broken by his Authority will be Melted by his Love which cannot be better Kindled or Fueled in our hearts than by the wood of the Cross Nor can That be better ordered than by This Sacrament which was appointed for That very End By This he is still set forth Crucified among Us as heretofore among the Galations however remote in time or place By this he is still Exalted to his Cross By This doth his Heart still open it self to send forth fresh bloud and his Mouth to utter new cries But oh those Cryes must be New indeed and to New but Sad purposes On his Cross he cried upward to his seemingly deserting Father My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me But at his Table he cryeth downward to his too really deserting disciples My friends My friends why do you forsake me Is it nothing to You Oh all you that pass by Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto My sorrow which is do'n unto Me wherewith the Lord Once afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger for your sakes and which you still repete by your unkind neglects of the salvation I then so dearly purchased and now so lovingly offer Whether his Bloud by speaking more Sweetly do not also speak more Powerfully than his Commands yea or Promises can do I neither Dare nor Need to determin All that I pretend to I hope is plain viz. That This Sacrament by shewing forth his Death draweth us with a New attractive and bindeth us with New obligations to obey such a Lord so purchasing and so offering salvation II. 2. THIS doth not only add New Obligations to former Laws upon their Old account but is it self a New Law upon a New account This is therefor the Cord of a Man bicause it draweth and bindeth us to our Lords humanity He that said If you Love me keep my Commandments recommendeth them after the same proportion as they have interest in his Person to which therefor since This hath greatest Relation it must also have greatest Claim to our Obedience If you love me you will keep all my Commandments bicause they are Mine but This above All bicause it is not only My Commandment but My Monument It s Relation is so singular to our Lords Person that it is Incommunicable even to one part of his Nature In all the Rest the whole Trinity is concerned bicause they serv the whole Divine Nature In keeping them we obey the Father also from whom he professeth to have receved them If we partake his spirit the Holy Ghost is honored but Spirits have not Flesh and
above the Laity in their own The Former by exalting this their proper tradition above the joint practice of all other Churches and the Later by putting the People at distance from the Altar and consequently from the Priest who must needs appear more worthy of reverence by the privilege he had to Partake the Sacrament while the People must only Adore it II. I QUESTION whether All their Doctrines put together I am sure not any One singl hath so much of Popery both Form and Matter as our modern way of robbing the Lords Supper of due constancy 1. This is the Soul and Life of Popery To Equal Tradition with Scripture and engross to themselvs the power of declaring what is Tradition This is the Pope's tripl Crown by this he dominereth over the Conscience and Understanding of the whole Christian world And This Particular Tradition is the first-born of That invention and the most valiant of the whole race None like it in Boldness for it first durst openly affront the whole world none like it in Atchievments for it hath triumphed not only over the Church Universal but over the Apostl himself 1. With the Church Universal she hath hereby dealt as her Nero did with her Predecessor-city Among all his pranks none like That of firing the City and then enenlarging his House upon the ruines If a City be to the whole World as a singl House is to a whole City then to make a Private Tradition devour the Universal Tradition of the whole World was another kind of Neronian fire and the title of Roman Catholik an exact tally of Roma domus fiet c. 2. With the Apostl she hath dealt if possibl more rudely turned his own artillery upon himself baffled him with his own weapon For He that he might convince the Corinthians that our Lord required constancy pleadeth a private Tradition I have saith he receved of the Lord what I delivered to you The Church of Rome employeth the very same evidence Trueth only excepted in direct opposition to This very Tradition of the Apostl receved and practised by all the Churches of Christ for having no other pretence to rob the Lords Supper of This constancy I have saith she receved it by tradition that it is not to be celebrated every Sunday The Corinthians could not oppose any thing to the Apostl's testimony concerning His tradition without giving him the ly nor was there any other way for Other Churches to avoid This of the Church of Rome And who durst be so rude to the capital Church of the Empire If All the Christian World have so venerated that Imperial Church as to sacrifice to her authority their own eyes who but a race of impudent Heretiks will question her veracity after so many ages of possession And if in such a Question as This the whole Catholik Church yielded to her authority with what fore-head can any other Church much more any private Person oppose her in any Other For if after such a concession This same Church shall pretend a Tradition that it is the duty of every other Church to yield themselvs up to her conduct by implicit Faith and blind Obedience what is this more than is already granted He that hath given up his eyes so as not to discover the brightest evidence must contradict himself if he believ them in any less manifest For it is to deny his own concession viz. that the Church of Rome is to be believed against all contrary evidences whenever she shall declare tradition This therefor as it was the First and Greatest essay so it is the most Prosperos that that the Church of Rome ever made or can make of an unlimited power over the Word of God and the Understandings of Mankind 2. This is the most Material Articl the Greatest limb of Popery Both sides agree to make this Sacrament the adaequate Test whereby to distinguish a Romanist from such as they call Heretik and This was the first step whereby it mounted to the controverted adoration When once it was obteined that Other offices of publik worship might be celebrated without This it was not hard to gain one step more for if it be as Well in point of Duty it must seem Better in point of Prudence to make it Venerable by Distance than Cheap by Familiarity And if it be Best to make it Venerable then will it be best to speak the Most that can help to make it so and when once it came to This that he speaketh Best who speaketh Most what wonder if Alexander claim adoration But to Adore the Sacrament and Trample upon the Institution To pretend that This is but a Positive Law and therefor subject to the Churches power and then with an express non obstante not only to Universal tradition but to our Lords Command to forbid the One half to the Peopl exalting their own Authority in the One and their Wisdom in the Other against His This was a jump which even the Church of Rome it self durst not make but after long exercise of omnipotence And as she herein exceeded all her Former Ages so doth she in This All her Other Doctrines In Other Doctrines they cheat men of their mony by scaring them with Purgatory soothing them with Indulgences wheadling them with Merits cullying them with Absolution upon the Priest's own terms fooling them with Foppish ceremonies c. But by This they pull out their very Eys forbidding them to believe any of their Senses If countermanding that singular Law which is appropriate to our Lords own Person if tearing away that badge which himself made the cognisance of his Church if to affront him in Both his Natures his Divine by derogating from his Authority and his Humane by defacing his Image can deserv the title then must This above All Doctrines be most worthy to be stiled Antichristian In brief and plain Ether the Church of Rome is to be followed in opposition to the Church Universal or the Church Universal in opposition to the Church of Rome If the Church of Rome be to be followed why do we deny implicite Faith to any her Other traditions If the Church Universal be to be followed why do we forsake her in This point of Constancy which she paid the Sacrament 'till the Church of Rome out-faced her III. VVE have seen by who 's Prescription this Phlebotomy hath be'n exercised let us now enquire with what Success And this will occasion another Question viz. Whether of the two we have more reason to be ashamed of The Practice is two-fold and ether part is answered by its proper success On the One side the Sacrament is rob'd of Constancy and That is followed by loss of tolerable Frequency On the Other side That Loss is recompensed by Veneration and This is followed by as great Mischiefs as the Author designed Benefits 1. By loss of CONSTANCY we have lost tolerabl Frequency The Obligation ones untyed and Latitude allowed without any other limit